'A tale of insidious damage of envy and our preoccupation with appearances. Anyone maintaining a ten-step Korean skincare regimen may feel seen. [...] Awad ramps up the grand guignol hysteria rather splendidly, chucking in some film noir tropes for good measure as we hurtle towards a demonic denouement' The Times
'Rouge is a story in which dreams become nightmares and vice versa. Desire and danger walk hand-in-hand and Awad skilfully manipulates the vertiginous tension between them. The beauty industry is ripe for Awad's signature treatment: gothic satire, bloody but beautifully done. Much of it is darkly hilarious. [...] If you like your fairy tales dark and for adults only, then stick along for the wild ride.' Daily
Telegraph
'[D]ark and seductive.'
i newspaper
'An edgy fable on the perils of our modern fascination with beauty.'
Vogue 'Awad is a genius, preternaturally gifted at creating vicious, hilarious tales about the depravity inside us.'
Vulture'A brilliant, biting critique of western beauty standards as well as a soaring, phantasmagoric, Angela Carter-esque fairy tale about trauma and the loss of self.
Rouge is deeply unsettling, funny, obsessive, and unlike anything I've read. A truly mesmerizing read.' Paul Tremblay, author of
The Cabin at the End of the World'
Rouge is a fever dream-a brilliant, intense, unforgettable horror story about a beauty cult with a deeply moving mother-daughter story at its core. Mona Awad's signature and singular imagination and black humor and empathy are on full display here, and her wild-ride of a tale is masterfully grounded in the emotional devastation of childhood and grief. I loved every word of this.' Laura Zigman, author of
Small World'There is nobody else like Mona Awad, daring enough to plunge her hands-rings and all-into the viscera of story and discover an unsettling beauty within. ROUGE is her most magnetic work yet, a thrilling dystopian romp that knows that beneath the glossy, aspirational veneer of self-care lurks the same old gothic abyss.' Alexandra Kleeman, author of
Something New Under the Sun'Unsettling, whimsical, and moving,
Rouge is an authentic, innovative kind of narrative magic that's both surreal and absolute. A striking novel of incandescence and heart.' Iain Reid, author of
I'm Thinking of Ending Things'Awad's latest is a dreamy (or perhaps nightmarish) gothic fairy tale about a mother, a daughter, and their shared obsession with their own beauty. Like all of Awad's novels, it reels you in, shakes your brain until you're not sure what you're seeing, and then floats off cackling on a cloud of smoke. Metaphorically, that is. I'd forgive you for not being sure.'
Lit Hub (Most Anticipated Books of 2023)'Mona Awad, I will read everything you ever write. She is a writer of unbelievable talent.'
Tor.com'[A] hypnotic tour de force... Awad approaches the increasingly well-trod ground of sinister wellness gurus with aplomb, creating an atmosphere of creeping discomfort and surreality right from the start. This is the stuff of fairy tales-red shoes, ballrooms, mirrors, and thorns but also sincerity, poignancy, and terror.'
Kirkus (Starred Review)
'[A] delightfully twisted fairy tale... The author's acerbic wit radiates in this excoriating story of beauty's ugly side.'
Publisher's Weekly
